90 - Waiting at Coffee Culture

90 - Waiting at Coffee Culture, originally uploaded by carolfoasia.

It can be a little nerve-wracking.

In 48 hours, I will begin my heat in the swim portion of the "Beaver Freezer,"  my first sprint triathlon. I had a dream last night that I forgot to set up my transition station. There were no shoes for me to change into after the swim, only this lonely laptop, and I can't have an MP3 player on the race. :)

In 72 hours, I will begin a talk on waiting that is still formless and void. I have all the components. They just have not been put together in a cohesive whole. I am usually at the "honing and crafting" stage by now, but life has been too busy for that. Michael started new classes, training for the triathlon, Southside Youth Outreach, Jesus Community. George hasn't been able to pick up the slack that he usually does because he has had a terrible cold.

But I have today. I got out of the house before things started humming and walked in the beautiful sunshine to Coffee Culture. My phone is turned off, and I am ready to roll. It is going to be a very good day.

Waiting

It can be a little nerve-wracking.

In 48 hours, I will begin my heat in the swim portion of my first sprint triathlon. I had a dream last night that I forgot to set up my transition station. There were no shoes for me to change into after the swim, only this lonely laptop, and I can't have an MP3 player on the race. :)

In 72 hours, I will begin a talk that on waiting that is still formless and void. I have all the components. They just have not been put together in a cohesive whole. I am usually at the "honing and crafting" stage by now, but life has been too busy for that. Michael started new classes, training for the triathlon, Southside Youth Outreach, Jesus Community. George hasn't been able to pick up the slack that he usually does because he has had a terrible cold.

But I have today. I got out of the house before things started humming and walked in the beautiful sunshine to Coffee Culture. My phone is turned off, and I am ready to roll. It is going to be a very good day.

TWEM Classics: 151 out of 158 (96%)

MODERN (1850 – present)

1860 Civilization of Renaissance Burckhardt 

1904 Protestant Work Ethic & Spirit of Capitalism Weber (READING NOW)

1938 The New England Mind Miller 

1973 The Gulag Archipelago (only Autobiography left)

1974 Roll, Jordan, Roll Genovese 

1987 All the President's Men Woodward & Bernstein (March 23, 2011)

1990 A Midwife's Tale Ballard
1992 The End of History & the Last Man Fukuyama 

March Madness

I always forget to write here. Just reflections in no particular order.

I am getting in shape. I was in pretty good shape before, but this triathlon training has kicked it up another gear. YEAH! I have lost about four pounds and gained a bunch of muscle.

We had a lovely vacation as a family. It was simple at South Beach in Newport and Wi-Ne-Ma at Cloverdale. We talked a bunch, walked, and played games. We even did a puzzle. Well, we tried to do one.

Now, I just did 20 on the bike at the club and walked 30 minutes afterward. I haven't had an outside bike ride in such a long time, but it has been really raining!  Now, I am all stretched and showered, and I am going to do my Bible Book Club post and work on my talk for the Spring Retreat. April is going to be a very busy month for us.

The basketball championships are on. George has been watching them quite a bit because he is sick. VCU may beat Kansas any second here.

Oh, I also finished another TWEM book! WOOHOO! I have to document that in another post. All the President's Men was fascinating! I loved reading a history book about something that happened during my lifetime. I remember the results: Nixon resigning. I don't remember all the details. So, that was really good. Now, I am reading The Protestant Work Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. It is very well written and gives me quite a bit to think about.

I am also reading the Book Babes books that I missed over the last 10 years. The Last Lecture was great. I know that Rosemary didn't like it, as I recall. If you still read this Rosemary, remind me what it was that you didn't like about it. It was simple and a nice thing to listen to while running or biking (stationery - I don't listen to my iPod while riding on a bike, too dangerous). Now I am listening to The Blindside. What a fun book!

Well, there are 29.8 seconds to go, and it looks like VCU (Virginia Commonwealth University) is going to upset #1 Kansas for the Southwest Regional Championship. All the #1's in all four regions (Duke, Ohio State, Pittburgh, and Kansas) have been beat. Or they WILL be beat in 24.2 seconds.  Now it is the commercial.

11.8 seconds, and they are going to the line. . . I like basketball when I decide to watch it, but I don't have time to watch it very often. :) It isn't the best use of my time. Try to be better about that.

Final: VCU 71: Kansas 61.  A wildcard team wins!

Mark 10:42-45

I am doing the lesson on "Kneeling" in Leadership Essentials today with Jane. I could not more heartily agree with this chapter. This is the scripture memory passage for this lesson:

"Calling them to Himself, Jesus said to them, 'You know that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them; and their great men exercise authority over them. But it is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant; and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.'"

Each lesson begins with a core truth, and I couldn't agree more with this one:

What is the motivation and posture of a Christian leaders?

Leading disciples are not motivated by self-aggrandizement of control or power, nor by the need to fill a deficit of self-worth. A servant leader finds joy in empowering and equipping others so they can experience the fulfillment of their God-given contribution. The freedom to be a servant leader comes from the reality of being a beloved child of God (p. 55).

This is my heart! I want to see others fly! I want them to know that God loves them, they are a beloved child of His, and that He wants them to fly with the gifts He has given them so that He might be glorified. So,  I want to say AMEN to this core truth!!!!

Now on to memorizing the verse.

P.S. I decided that I am going to be better at entering posts here about what I am learning  

 

 

 

2011 Carol365: 71 - 20-Miler in the Rain Complete

2011 Carol365: 71 - 20-Miler in the Rain Complete: "71 - 20-Miler in the Rain Complete, originally uploaded by carolfoasia.I went out for my longest distance when there was a lull in the rain..."

Eight More TWEM Books!!!

MODERN (1850 – present)

1860 Civilization of Renaissance Burckhardt 

1904 Protestant Work Ethic & Spirit of Capitalism Weber 

1938 The New England Mind Miller 

1973 The Gulag Archipelago (only Autobiography left)

1974 Roll, Jordan, Roll Genovese 

1987 All the President's Men Woodward & Bernstein 

1990 A Midwife's Tale Ballard
1992 The End of History & the Last Man Fukuyama 

I decided to read All the President's Men because it is nice to read history that I was a part of for a change. All the other books are about things past. (Except maybe The End of History and the Last Man. I don't know what that is about, and I want to read that one last: last man/last book.) I'm already hooked and I am only about 60 pages into it! The fact that I can remember it all is exciting for me! I remember the day Nixon resigned! I even wrote it in my journal that night. History making really.

I read Born Again by Chuck Colson in the autobiography section a while ago though. So, I wish I could have read them together, but that was back when I was trying to complete genre. I definitely recommend reading these books chronologically though. I did that in some cases (Pilgrim's Progress with Bunyan's autobiography for example), but I didn't think to do it for All the President's Men! I think it was when I was just blitzing one autobiography after another. Somehow I remember Colson not admitting that he had really done anything wrong other than had some bad judgment in some cases. I might be wrong on that point though. This book paints quite a sordid picture of Colson as the "hatchet man" of Nixon. Stay tuned. I think I am going to fly through this one, but I don't have it on Kindle. So, it is hard for me to read it while I am running because I can't make the print bigger. 

TWEM LIST UPDATE: 150/158 = 95%

I'm in the single digits!!!

MOSTLY HISTORY

EARLY MODERN (1600 – 1850)

1776 Decline & Fall Roman Empire Gibbon 

1835 Democracy in America Tocqueville (March 11, 2011)

MODERN (1850 – present)

1860 Civilization of Renaissance Burckhardt 

1904 Protestant Work Ethic & Spirit of Capitalism Weber 

1937 The Road to Wigan Pier Orwell (March 11, 2011)
1938 The New England Mind Miller 

1973 The Gulag Archipelago (only Autobiography left)

1974 Roll, Jordan, Roll Genovese 

1978 Distant Mirror Tuchman (January 2011)
1987 All the President's Men Woodward & Bernstein 

1990 A Midwife's Tale Ballard
1992 The End of History & the Last Man Fukuyama